Congress to Address the Fractional Gifts Mess

This just in: It looks like Congress may finally get around to trying to address the fractional gifts mess created by Section 1218 of the 2006 Pension Protection Act.
A press conference will be held tomorrow in Washington to introduce the “Promotion of Artistic Giving Act of 2007.” According to the press release, the bill would “require that donors must complete their fractional gifts within the donor’s lifetime [rather than within 10 years], require an IRS review of donations’ appraisal value for gifts valued at over $1 million and eliminate the unnecessary estate and gift tax implications relating to fractional giving contained in PPA.”
The bill will be introduced by Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Phil English (R-PA). Anita Difanis of the Washington office of the Association of Art Museum Directors, and “others from the museum community” will be at the press conference.
I got my first inkling from The Art Law Blog that something of this nature might be in the works, and I’m sure that colleague Donn Zaretsky will post some informed analysis of the new bill, once the text is available.